


Limited Warranty

by Tzalmavet



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Embedded Images, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, rating and warnings may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-01 23:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13306062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tzalmavet/pseuds/Tzalmavet
Summary: The Batter decides to abandon his purifying quest, and turn over a new leaf by starting a peaceful life in zone 1.Is his decision wise, or will his future be dark and filled with pain and regret?  Only time will tell.





	Limited Warranty

"You're going to destroy the spectres? Hurry up, we're expecting the Queen's inspector at any moment..." the man in front of the Batter crossed his arms anxiously.  _Whatever._   He didn't need to be told twice.  He just had to purify the barn, and then these silly people would stop bothering him and let him get back to purifying the mines.  The Batter didn't respond to the man, and entered the building.

The barn was warm on the inside, and the cows could be heard pacing about in their pens.  _Something_ told him that there were five spectres that needed to be eliminated for the barn to be pure.  He took a few steps forward and sure enough, he could see some ghosts floating about in the next room; they were bloated, sharp-toothed things, and giggled ominously when they caught him staring.

His puppeteer sent him a command, and he rushed over to the foul spirits.  The ghosts' giggling escalated to hysterical laughter as he swung his bat into them.  Their voices were awful, and lingered even after he'd shattered their ectoplasmic forms.  But all in all, the ghosts and their hideous laughs were extinguished rather easily.

> **There are/is 3 spectre(s) left in the barn.**

The Batter ran outside to the save block and tapped it, restoring his health, and ran back inside.  He made quick work of the spectres lurking in the further corners of the barn, the ones hiding by the metal piles and near the frightened livestock.  They were exactly like the first two both in appearance and in ease of purification.

> **There are/is 1 spectre(s) left in the barn.**

The puppeteer tugged him back to where he'd fought the first of the Fat Spectres, and led him down a staircase.  At the bottom, behind a sloppy pile of metal boulders, was the last one.  The Batter was confused as to how on earth he was supposed to fight the damned thing with so much mess blocking his path, until he found his hands shoving one of the boulders to the side, making a little clear spot on the floor.  _Ah._   This was the reason why he needed an extraworldly controller's aid.  Some of the tasks his quest required simply had too many steps for him to even consider them on his own.

A path through the boulders finally cleared, the Batter leapt upon the ghost and sent it into oblivion to join the rest of its kind.  All the spectres inside gone, the barn had been successfully purified.  He could finally get back to the mines.

The Batter stood quietly, feeling the progress he'd made.  The barn was pure.  He now could go back down the ladder to the mines of Damien, and continue to purify the spectres there.  He'd finally be able to continue going along the straight and narrow path he'd been following before; no distractions, only purification.  Such was the purpose he'd been created for.  The Batter clenched and unclenched his free hand, glancing around the basement.  He contemplated it all for a few seconds.  Then, he took a breath, turned his head upwards, and said something:

"...This is really stupid."

It was all pointless.  It wasn't easy for him to remember it, but he knew that the way to the deeper parts of the mine was sealed off.  If he purified all of the spectres in the portion he'd already explored, what would there be left to do?  Zone 0 was empty except for the Judge.  The train only stopped in Damien and Elsen.  His controller wasn't omnipotent-- he'd never be able to progress.

A familiar jolt went through the Batter's body, making him jump and telling him to walk onto a brown platform in the corner of the room.  He frowned.  This was _stupid._   Bracing himself, the Batter kept his feet planted firmly on the ground, refusing to move.  _Tap tap tap_ , went the puppeteer's command, trying to poke him towards the platform.

The Batter was uneasy, the resistance forcing him to be completely tense.  _What am I doing?_ he wondered.  What would happen if he went on like this?  Would he die if he didn't comply and continue following the puppeteer's orders?  His life before his mission (if he'd even had one) was shrouded in darkness.  He knew only of purification, and couldn't comprehend a life outside of it.

 _Tap tap tap, tap tap tap._   The Batter swallowed hard.  There was no point in living if his purpose was futile to begin with; if he died, then that would simply end something that was never destined to be properly concluded.  Slowly, he loosened the fingers clenched around his bat, and allowed the holy weapon to fall to the floor with a clatter.

 _Tap tap tap._   The commands were insistent, their energy firing in his joints and brain, but the Batter didn't obey them.  Mustering up his willpower, the Batter forced himself to turn to the side.  He cautiously took a step, the first he'd ever taken without his puppeteer's instruction, and then another.  Though his puppeteer was trying to make him do otherwise, the Batter clambered onto the pile of boulders he'd pushed together and, maintaining his balance on the bumpy surface, slowly laid down on the pile.

 _Tap tap tap._   The Batter brought his arms and legs close to his body.  The commands were less powerful, now.  He knew what they wanted him to do (to go over to the brown platform _right now)_ , but their power wasn't surging in his body, anymore.  They seemed less meaningful, further away.

 _Tap tap tap._   He shut his eyes, saying nothing.  They could tap those arrow keys of theirs all day, but they couldn't move him without his consent.  This quest would end on his terms, and his terms _only._   He was as ready for it to end as he'd ever be.

 _Tap tap tap._   The Batter didn't respond.

_Tap tap tap._

_Tap tap tap._

_Tap tap tap._

_..._

_Tap tap._

_Tap tap._

_...Tap._

_..._

_..._

Nothing.  The puppeteer had stopped.  The Batter waited, and for what felt like ages there were still no more commands being sent.

Then, the Batter felt something strange-- like something big and heavy was being lifted from his body.  He tensed, holding his breath.  It made his skin tingle, and was opening up an eerie, hollow feeling in his chest.  The Batter was confused and uncomfortable, but he wouldn't back out.  Whatever was happening was what he wanted.  It was better this way.

The tingling moved from the flesh closest to the floor to that facing the ceiling, and the hollow feeling grew wider and wider, until finally the big heavy thing had freed itself and something like a breeze rushed through the Batter as it took off and flew away.

The Batter opened his eyes.  He tilted his head and looked to the ceiling, towards the heavens, where his brain was telling him the mysterious feeling had flown towards.  _Quite peculiar,_ he thought.  He felt perfectly normal.  The strange sensations had come and gone, and the Batter realized he'd been left alone.  His puppeteer was gone.

All was quiet.  The Batter had been fully prepared for the possibility that their absence would kill him, but not for the alternative.  He'd done something _human,_ using _free will_ to wrestle against the incomprehensible forces that commanded him... And now that he owned it completely, he didn't have the slightest idea what to do with it.

He was alive, and more free than he'd ever been.  Lying on his side on the cold metal boulders, he grasped now that the decision to get up or stay down was all his, and that he could do either whenever he wanted, and no one could stop him.  He didn't know what to do with this new ability.  There were so many options, so many variables, so much time, he couldn't imagine what would happen, now.  He was utterly lost.

His holy quest was now something that he'd have to do himself, if he so chose.  But its road was a difficult one, and he was already having trouble just wondering whether or not he should stand up.  Life without a purpose wasn't something he was sure he wanted.  He didn't know if he wanted go back to Damien and try to make so-called 'progress', but he wanted to do _something._

The Batter shut his eyes.  He had an eternity to figure out what his new purpose would be.  For now, he chose to let his mind go blank, listening to the faint sound of rain hitting the barn upstairs, and feeling the coolness of the air.  It wasn't zone 0, but he supposed it was nice.  Curled up on the boulders, the Batter quietly allowed the gentle ambiance of the basement to lull him to sleep.  When he awoke, he'd set out and face the unknown.

 


End file.
